She has been giving me a problem with her eating. she will eat her food one day and turn her nose up at it the next. Her stool looks like poop which looks like chocolate but she has not eaten chocolate.

The diarrhea is intermittent. I have changed her food several times because as I said she will eat it a couple times and then not want it any more. Her energy level had been good up until today. She had been very active. She vomited so many times today it scared me. She is very listless now.

Ok! Thanks for that further information. It is quite concerning that your little pup has vomited so many times today, and that she is listless. It always worries me when puppies are lethargic.

There are a lot of different possibilities for what may be going on with your pup. The ones that I would be considering if she were on her way in to see me are:

1. One of the things that I think of first in a young dog is that she may have a Gastrointestinal Foreign Body.

Dogs eat the strangest things - plastic bags, children's toys, bones, bits of towel, socks, rocks and other things. Often, these foreign bodies pass through the intestinal tract, but sometimes they do not. They may get caught in the stomach or the small intestines.

The symptoms of a GI foreign body are generally vomiting, loss of appetite, depression and dehydration. If your dog consumed an object that is caught in the small intestines, it might explain the symptoms that you are seeing. This would be particulary true if the object were something like a ball that could bob over pylorus (outflow from the stomach) and then move away again. Thus, water could pass through but not food.

In the case of an obstruction, surgery is often needed to remove the foreign object. I will include further information about GI foreign bodies:

If I examined your pup and was concerned about a foreign body, I would probably recommend x-rays to see if a foreign object were visible. A plastic bag would not show up on x-rays. It does, however, show up very well if the dog is given some barium (a type of milkshake like drink) by mouth. Then a determination can be made about how best to get this out of the dog, or whether it might move through on its own.

2. It is possible your little dog simply has gastroenteritis from eating something she shouldn't have.

Table scraps or twigs and leaves could be the culprit! Gastroenteritis is an inflammation of the stomach and intestines and can be caused by a large number of things, including sudden dietary changes.

Puppies are notorious for being curious and eating all kinds of things!

3. Another possibility is Parasites.

Here is a link to information about whipworms which are notoriously hard to identify by fecal analysis, and are not killed with pyrantel pamoate (standard puppy dewormer):

Dogs can be affected by overgrowths of bacteria in the intestines. In an adult dog these might not be more than a nuisance, but in a pup they can be serious. The 3 most common are Campylobacter, Salmonella and E.Coli. Here is a link with more information:

The fact she has been vaccinated for this makes this less likely... but not impossible as she has not completed her vaccine series.

Parvo is a highly contagious virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea, often with blood, in puppies. It causes severe dehydration, and untreated often results in death. Usually, it would take a couple of days of untreated vomiting and diarrhea before the puppy died.

Puppies are routinely vaccinated for Parvo virus as part of their regular vaccines. These are usually given at 8, 12 and 16 weeks. Once fully vaccinated, there is a virtually zero chance of a dog getting Parvo virus. Some breeds are more susceptible to Parvo - this means that they get sicker and take longer to recover than other breeds. The susceptible breeds are Rottweillers, Dobermans and Labrador Retrievers.

The botXXXXX XXXXXne is that there are a number of possibilities for what may be going on. Your vet would need to do a physical exam and possibly some diagnostic tests to figure out what the underlying problem is. I would start with a fecal sample, blood test and abdominal x-rays. It sounds like it is time to find out what is going on!

If she is feeling unwell at the moment, there are some things you can do at home until you can get her in to the vet:

1. WITH-HOLD FOOD for 12 hours since she has been vomiting today. This gives the intestines a chance to rest and heal.

2. When she is fasting, she can have lots of clear fluids.

So, water is fine, but also she can have pedialyte, Gatorade, apple juice diluted 50:50 with water, or onion-free chicken or beef broth diluted 50:50 with water. Give the fluids in small amounts frequently. For a dog this size that means about 1/4 cup every 30min.

It is important that you do offer these fluids that have calories in them as low blood sugar is a problem in small dogs.

3. After 12 hours, you can start your dog back on a bland diet, if there has been no more vomiting.

For patients that I see, I recommend a mixture of 75% cooked white rice, and 25% low fat protein. For the protein you could use extra lean ground beef, boiled with the fat scooped off, or chicken breast boiled with fat scooped off or even scrambled egg cooked without fat in the microwave. Feed small frequent meals. For a dog this size, I would suggest 1-2 tablespoons every 3 to 4 hours.

4. After 1-2 days on the rice mix, you would gradually change your dog back to the normal dog food.

So, on day 3, give the rice mixture, but bigger meals, spaced further apart. On day 4, mix a little tiny bit of the normal food in there, and decrease the frequency so it is down to 3 meals or so. And so on.

5. Keep your dog as quiet as possible - just out to relieve herself and back in.

If your little pup continues to vomit, develops blood in the stool, is lethargic or shows signs of abdominal pain, please contact a veterinarian promptly. I do think that it is time to find out what may be going on with her.

Good luck with your girl!

If this has been helpful, please "Accept" my answer and provide feedback.

If you need more information, click on reply and I will still be here to answer further questions!

The above is given for information only. Although I am a licensed veterinarian, I cannot legally prescribe medicines or diagnose your pet's condition without performing a physical exam. If you have concerns about your pet I would strongly advise contacting your regular veterinarian.

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